Peg 17, Sunday, July 3
I didn't fancy my peg 17, which provides shelter from a wind with North in it - ideal on a cold Winter's day, but not so good in Summer, especially when the fish are 'iffy', as they are at the moment. A couple of weeks earlier I had had corner peg 16, which remained flat calm all day, and I came last on it. I would have preferred around 20 to 26, which had a bit of my favourite Raspberry Ripple. but I had casters with me, and intended to try a bit of shallow fishing with them.
I didn't fancy my peg 17, which provides shelter from a wind with North in it - ideal on a cold Winter's day, but not so good in Summer, especially when the fish are 'iffy', as they are at the moment. A couple of weeks earlier I had had corner peg 16, which remained flat calm all day, and I came last on it. I would have preferred around 20 to 26, which had a bit of my favourite Raspberry Ripple. but I had casters with me, and intended to try a bit of shallow fishing with them.
Just seven of us fished - and it was brilliant to see Kevin Lee back in action only about three weeks after breaking ribs. And although the field was small, every one of them has won multiple club matches in the past, so nothing could be taken for granted. In fact my swim wasn't completely flat calm all day, as there was some ripple at times, and in the end I doubt it made a lot of difference because fishing was hard all the way along.
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| My building site/rubbish tip at Peg 17. when there was some ripple. |
One fish shallow
I started with 10 minutes on a bomb and pellet, because recently Jim Reagan had won a match on here using that. Nothing came of that so Plan A came into operation. I had been catapulting out casters, and first drop on them with a banded caster, on a long pole (my Number Six section bust the previous week had already been mended by Will Hadley), saw a 5 lb mirror snatch the float under, and it ended in my keepnet. Too good to be true? Yep - the next 25 minutes fishing shallow with caster brought not a single touch, so plan B was now operative.
I started with 10 minutes on a bomb and pellet, because recently Jim Reagan had won a match on here using that. Nothing came of that so Plan A came into operation. I had been catapulting out casters, and first drop on them with a banded caster, on a long pole (my Number Six section bust the previous week had already been mended by Will Hadley), saw a 5 lb mirror snatch the float under, and it ended in my keepnet. Too good to be true? Yep - the next 25 minutes fishing shallow with caster brought not a single touch, so plan B was now operative.
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| On peg 21, to my left, Callum Judge had occasional fish all day long. |
Barbel come to the hemp/caster
Corn dripped into the side, with micros, to attract carp, eventually brought...a 2 lb barbel. Immediately I put in hemp and casters, which is a deadly combination for barbel, and over the next two or three hours it brought about six more, up to 4 lb on bunches of dead maggots, plus a 10 lb common carp foulhooked. Barbel in particular have a habit of foulhooking themselves, and indeed I lost two or three foulhooked, but landed one, which was the biggest at around 5 lb.
Corn dripped into the side, with micros, to attract carp, eventually brought...a 2 lb barbel. Immediately I put in hemp and casters, which is a deadly combination for barbel, and over the next two or three hours it brought about six more, up to 4 lb on bunches of dead maggots, plus a 10 lb common carp foulhooked. Barbel in particular have a habit of foulhooking themselves, and indeed I lost two or three foulhooked, but landed one, which was the biggest at around 5 lb.
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| Callum included a barbel or two in his runner-up catch, and also that beautiful golden mirror carp. |
I could see carp swimming around in the calm water, but if I so much as flicked a single caster at them they shot away, so although I did try fishing a caster shallow a couple of times, on a long pole, nothing came of it.
Disaster
Next to me on 19 Dave Garner, fishing cat meat or corn for carp, had just one fish with an hour to go, and I had spent the previous hour without a proper bite of any sort. Then I hooked a really big fish, which I could see was a cracking double-figure carp. I played it for a couple of minutes and was confident of landing it when suddenly, just to my right about ten feet from the bank, everything went solid.
Next to me on 19 Dave Garner, fishing cat meat or corn for carp, had just one fish with an hour to go, and I had spent the previous hour without a proper bite of any sort. Then I hooked a really big fish, which I could see was a cracking double-figure carp. I played it for a couple of minutes and was confident of landing it when suddenly, just to my right about ten feet from the bank, everything went solid.
I couldn't work out what had happened, because my float was three feet above the surface, so the fish must have snagged two feet down...in nearly six feet of water! For a few seconds I could feel the fish tugging; then it stopped. I increased the pressure, and slowly more of my rig came into view, and with it a pole float, still attached to nylon. Clearly I had snagged an old pole rig which was still attached to something on the bottom. Eventually I got the whole rig back, but not the fish. I said something like: "Oh dear, Oh dear" to myself.
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| Allan Golightly had a net fall in the water between finishing and weighing in. He lost an estimated 28 lb of fish. which would have put him in second place. Unlucky or what? |
A little later a final barbel came in, on cat meat which also tempted just two carp around 8 lb, while Dave had, I think, three carp in that final spurt. I ended with eight barbel and just three carp, but I had lost about three fish, probably foulhooked - you can't always tell.
The weigh-in
My 11 fish weighed 58 lb 1 oz, which I was happy with, as I guessed that everyone had struggled. Next door Dave Garner's three late carp gave him 34 lb 6 oz. and then Callum beat me by 8 oz on peg 21. But Kevin Lee celebrated his return to the bank with a win on peg 27 with 78 lb 5 oz, and I believe a lot of that came late in the match.
My 11 fish weighed 58 lb 1 oz, which I was happy with, as I guessed that everyone had struggled. Next door Dave Garner's three late carp gave him 34 lb 6 oz. and then Callum beat me by 8 oz on peg 21. But Kevin Lee celebrated his return to the bank with a win on peg 27 with 78 lb 5 oz, and I believe a lot of that came late in the match.
I ended third, and just hoped that in my next match, also on Yew, in two days time, I could get away from that Northern end on the East bank.
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| Kevin Lee - winner with 78 lb 5 oz. |
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John Smith with a typical Yew mirror. Above: Me with fish!!! |
Peg 18, Tuesday, July 5
"I don't believe it!" or words to that effect went through my mind when Trevor drew my peg for me. What are the odds of getting pegs 16, then 17, then 18 on Yew, in succession? Especially when there were 12 pegs in the bag, on both sides of the lake. And when we got to the lake the three or four pegs at that end, including mine, on both sides were all flat calm while the rest had a lovely wave on them.
BUT in fact during the match the wind drifted round more Westerly, so I had a good ripple anyway, in my face, for some of the time, while Peter Spriggs opposite in the corner had nothing, and Martin Parker, in the corner on my right didn't have much either. And with that in my face I decided not to start fishing shallow, as I wasn't sure I could get my casters very far out into the wind.
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| Peg 17 - my little home on the prairie. |
A cunning plan
On the Sunday the fish had been in my left margin on 17, and that swim was now to my right, about 15 yards away, so I decided to start that side, fishing for barbel, hoping that they would roam along the reed bed towards me. And it worked! Casters and hemp did the business and I had a 2 lb barbel on dead maggots inside ten minutes.
But they were very finicky, and lots of bites didn't develop - just twitching and slowly pulling under, and I foulhooked a couple and came back with a small silver scale each time - typical barbel scales. So I moved to the left margin, and soon had another barbel there, and moved back to the right margin, where I also put in dead maggots, which brought in the small perch. After catching half a dozen of them I decided to leave that swim alone, and went out to eight metres where I had put in micros and corn.
That long swim never even got ne a bite so it was back to the left margin, where another two barbel around 2 lb took dead maggots, A switch to cat meat brought a 3 lb barbel, and then bites dried up completely for a couple of hours.
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| Peter Barnes had three late carp in his 35 lb 11 oz. |
Dead maggots - a mistake
That long swim never even got ne a bite so it was back to the left margin, where another two barbel around 2 lb took dead maggots, A switch to cat meat brought a 3 lb barbel, and then bites dried up completely for a couple of hours.
Bites on corn, and a minor tragedy
I had now changed to corn, and it appeared that the carp were starting to move in, as I started getting bites on corn. Unfortunately I lost about five fish, two possibly foulhooked which both broke me. Then I had a real disaster, which was entirely my fault.
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| Joe is 93, but stuck it out for his two fish, and was still smiling! |
I had a 17 hollow elastic in, and had sort of noticed that the crow's foot knot at the puller was a bit small, and I had no bead on. But I was concentrating on catching fish, so did nothing about it. The next fish, probably a big carp lumbered out and kept going as I added a section or two. Next thing everything went slack - and I had no rig. Neither did I have elastic - the fish had pulled the knot through the side puller, and on its way out it had taken the end bush on the top section. I was left with nothing. I felt rally guilty, even though I m sure the barbless hook will drop out.
The result is that I have started to check all the elastics, and to make up a rig or two on really strong line, because the carp in here are getting bigger and bigger.
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| Last to weigh, Bob Barrett almost framed with his 49 lb 8 oz, taken on a feeder. |
Carp on the long line
Back to the swim and eventually I went out to the eight-metre line and immediately the float dived and I was playing a carp that, in my landing net, looked to be at least 15 lb. Next drop an eight-pounder came in, but no more. Peter Barnes n my left on 20 had just two fish on a feeder at this time. I now turned to a tiny marginal swim I had found to my left - four feet deep for about a foot from the bank before it dropped down into nearly six feet, where I had been flicking grains of corn all day.
In the last hour that tiny swim produced two more carp, best about 10 lb, and a 3 lb F1. I was surprised that the fish would come up onto that tiny shelf, but it just shows that you must try everything. I ended with five barbel and five carp, having lost a total of eight fish; but I imagine that everybody else would have lost fish because they have not yet settled down after spawning - and I suspect they are loping to spawn yet again.
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| Trevor, runner-up with 76 lb 7 oz. He always seems to be able to mug fish - a skill which eludes me. |
The weigh in
On Peg 5 Trevor Cousins had mugged six fish late, when they started to come along in twos or threes. He has told me, in the past, that it's better to drop a bait in front of more than one, as it creates competiton, and the fish are more likely to respond that the fish swimming along on their own. Trevor weighed 76 lb 7 oz.
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| Winner Peter Spriggs (Pete The Meat) foulhooked this 19 lb 2 oz fish in the tail!!! |
John Smith and Peter Harrison both struggled to about three fish each - a sure sign that it had not been an easy day - but in the corner Ppeter Spriggs had fished meat for a wonderful 107 lb 15 oz, taken in the margins, mainly to the left. That catch included a 19 lb 2 oz mirror hooked in the tail!!
Round to my bank, and I was pleased to be top weight on that side of the lake with 56 lb for third spot. If I hadn't been broken twice it might have been enough for second place. To my right Martin Parker, who had only one fish after three hours, had a late burst fishing in the corner and finished with 47 lb 12 oz.
AND can anyone tell me why, suddenly, the pictures on this page won't go where I want to put them?? Hopefully a new page, for the next match, will see it all back to normal?
THE RESULT
East Bank West Bank
26 Bob Barrett 49 lb8 oz 5 Trevor Cousins 76 lb 7 oz 2nd
24 Dick Warrener 17 lb 14 oz 7 John Smith 18 lb 3 oz
22 Alan Porter 53 lb 2 oz 4th 9 Peter Harrison 21 lb 12 oz
20 Peter Barnes 35 lb 11 oz 11 Bob Allen 3 lb 10 oz
18 Mac Campbell 56 lb 3rd 13 Joe Bedford 11 lb 7 oz
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